Main:Ksenia Afanasyeva
Tula, Tula Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR |Row 5 title = Years on National Team |Row 5 info = 2007-2016 |Row 6 title = Coach(es) |Row 6 info = Marina Nazarova |Row 7 title = Current status |Row 7 info = Retired}}Ksenia Dmitrievna Afanasyeva (Russian: Ксения Дмитриевна Афанасьева) (b. September 13, 1991) is a retired Russian artistic gymnast. She is the 2011 World Champion and 2013 and 2015 European Champion on floor exercise, and the 2013 Universiade Vault and Floor champion. She represented Russia at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics. At the 2012 Olympics, she won the silver medal with the Russian team. She was known for her elegance and originality on floor exercise and consistency when performing with the Russian team. Career 2007 She missed the 2007 World Championships due to injury, after coming second in a World Cup gymnastics competition on the Beam earlier in the year. 2008 At the Olympics in Beijing, on the 1st day of competition, Ksenia qualified in 6th for the all around, however she did not qualify because of the two per country rule. (Ksenia Semenova and Anna Pavlova qualified in 4th and 5th respectively). She also qualified 9th in the individual floor final, and 8th in the individual balance beam final. 2009 In 2009 she was nominated to the Russian European team. She failed to reach the All around finals, but took Kristina Goryunova's spot in the All Around Finals. She won the silver behind her compatriot Ksenia Semenova after falling from beam. She also was 4th on uneven bars. She did not compete in the 2009 world championships in London, due to injury. 2010 In 2010, Ksenia won the Japan Cup in Team Finals for Russia and the All Around finals, followed by Japan's Koko Tsurumi, and Russian team mate Aliya Mustafina. At the Pacific Rim championships she won a bronze medal in the All Around finals and another bronze medal on the uneven bars event finals, held in Melbourne. At the 2010 World Championships in Rotterdam she qualified in 17th in the All Around qualification round but due to the two per country rule she did not advanced to the finals. She qualified 2nd for the floor exercise event finals. She helped led the Russian team to win the gold medal by posting the highest floor exercise score of the night by any gymnasts. She failed to medal on the floor exercise event finals, placing 8th. 2011 At the 2011 World Championships in Tokyo, Ksenia competed vault and floor for Russia in the Team Final, and earned a silver medal along with her teammates. She also qualified fifth for the All Around, and finished seventh in the final. She was second reserve for the Floor Exercise final, but an injury to Diana Bulimar (Romania) and the withdrawal of Viktoria Komova (Russia) meant that Ksenia was able to compete in the final. She scored 15.133 and became the 2011 World Champion on this event. Afanasyeva is known for her artistry, especially on floor and balance beam. Unfortunately she had also made a name for herself as a tremendously talented gymnast who would perform consistently in team competitions but faltered when it came to her individual performance in the event finals. Despite being a fan favourite, she had had many disappointing performances before finally making the cut by becoming the World Champion on floor in Tokyo 2011. 2012 Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Cup in June, where she placed fourth in the all-around. On July 7th, Afanasyeva was named to the Russian team for the Olympics. She was also named captain of the Russian team by her teammates. During qualifications, Afanasyeva competed on beam and floor. She qualified sixth to the balance beam final and fourth to the floor exercise final. During the team final, Afanasyeva continued to only compete on beam and floor. She posted a decent score on beam but fell on floor exercise. After teammate Anastasia Grishina's floor routine (where she received a 12.466), Afanasyeva and her teammates were all in tears, as they thought they hadn't done enough to even medal. When they found out they won the silver, placing behind the United States and ahead of Romania, they were all smiles during the medal ceremony. During the balance beam final, Afanasyeva scored a 14.583 and finished fifth. During the floor exercise final, Afanasyeva performed first. She stepped out of bounds twice and scored a 14.566 and placed sixth. 2013 In January, Afanasyeva was announced as part of the lineup for the La Roche-sur-Yon World Cup. In March, Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Championships. She helped her team, Central Federal District, win the team gold, and won gold on floor exercise and bronze on balance beam. At the World Cup, she placed fourth on balance beam after a fall and won gold on floor exercise. Later that month, she was announced as the last Russian team member for the European Championships. She competed the all-around but after faltering on bars and beam, only qualified fifth into the final. As her teammates Aliya Mustafina and Anastasia Grishina qualified ahead of her, Afanasyeva did not advance to the final. She did qualify to the floor final, where she won gold. Afanasyeva competed with the Russian team at the Universiade in July. She contribued to the team's gold medal finish and won silver in the all-around. In vault finals, she competed an Amanar for the first time and tied for gold with Hong Un-Jong of North Korea. She also won gold on floor exercise, debuting a brand new routine. In August, Afansyeva was named to the Russian team for the World Championships, and did not compete at the Russian Cup to rest for Worlds. However, at the end of August, she underwent surgery for an old lingering injury, and missed the World Championships as a result. However, her surgery was not successful and she required another one in early January. 2014 Her first competition back was the Russian Championships, where she only competed on vault and floor exercise. She helped her team with the gold medal, but withdrew from vault finals after she fell on vault in team finals and hurt herself a little. Her injury required yet another surgery, with the subsequent recovery keeping her out of the World Championships again. She returned to international competition in the Team Challenge at the Stuttgart World Cup, debuting a new floor routine and hitting a solid double-twisting Yurchenko. The Russians won silver behind the German team. In December, she competed at the Voronin Cup, winning gold on floor and silver on vault. 2015 Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Championships in early March, winning team and floor exercise gold and placing fourth on vault. She was sent to the European Championships in France in April, where she won bronze on vault and reclaimed her title on floor exercise. At the Russian Cup in September, she won floor exercise gold, team and balance beam silver, and vault bronze. She was promptly named to the Russian team for the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in October. In Glasgow, she helped the Russians qualify second to the team final, but they were unable to duplicate their success in the team final. They finished out of the medals, behind the bronze medal-winning British team. Individually, Afanasyeva delivered a solid routine that won her a silver medal on floor exercise. 2016 Afanasyeva competed at the Russian Championships in April, winning team and floor exercise gold. In June, she was sent to Switzerland to compete at the European Championships, but was dealing with an injury at the time and only competed vault. Despite this, she still helped Russia win team gold and won an individual bronze on vault. Afanasyeva was hospitalized with kidney problems in July, leaving her out of the Olympics.no Olympics She subsequently retired from gymnastics.retired She married fellow gymnast Roman Suetin on September 10th, and the two of them welcomed a baby boy on July 18th.marriedson Medal Count Floor Music 2008 - "Isadora" by Azul y Negro/"Comme Amour" by Richard Clayderman 2009 - "Ballet" by Anna Pugacheva/"Nuclear" and "Tocata in Fog" by the Deviations Project 2010 - "Color of the Night" by Lauren Christy 2011 - "Tango in the Night" by Fleetwood Mac/ "Inflitrado" by Bajofondo 2012-2013 - "Pulmon" by Bajofondo/ "Ironside" by Quincy Jones/ "Grand Guignol" by Bajofondo 2013 Universiade - "Le Tonnerre De Dieu" by Georges Garvarentz early 2014 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8j0Qkx4R6s "Alfatango" by Shutter/ "El Tango de Roxanne" from Moulin Rouge!] late 2014 - "Show Me How You Burlesque" from Burlesque early 2015 - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob1ONEa69DU theme from Halo, as covered by Lindsey Stirling and William Joseph] References